Glamorgan captain Sam Northeast will be leaving the county at the end of the 2025 season, with the batter set to return to his boyhood club, Kent.

The 35-year-old has enjoyed a successful four year spell at Glamorgan, making his mark in his first season, scoring 410 not out in a County Championship match against Leicestershire.

With that innings, Northeast became the first batsman to score 400 runs in a first-class innings since Brian Lara made 400 not out for the West Indies against England in April 2004.

Ahead of the 2024 season, Northeast was made Glamorgan captain for the County Championship team. Perhaps his most important innings that season was his 63* from 49 balls in the shortened One-Day Cup final against Somerset, delivering a second trophy in four years for the county.

“After four great years, I’ve decided to return to Kent to be closer to my family,” Northeast said in a statement.

“It was a tough decision. One I took a long time to make. We’ve just had another baby, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to give my all to Glamorgan next year. I’d constantly be back on the road, which wouldn’t be fair on my family, the Club and myself to a certain degree. I’m the type of player who wants to be able to give my all to the Club I’m with, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do that for Glamorgan with a young family.

“It’s a huge privilege and an honour to Captain a Club of Glamorgan’s stature. As such, I’m not looking too far into the future right now as we try and achieve promotion.

“My priority is not to take the focus away during a big month for my team. I want to make sure that we all perform to our best over the next four weeks and attack the last three games. We’re going to try and chase down Leicestershire, and for that to be possible we know that we have to finish strong. Hopefully we can achieve something spectacular.

“I’ll naturally reflect further on everything at the end of the season. But it goes without saying that I’ve absolutely loved my time here. It’s a family and a progressive Club that’s really moving forward.

“I found my passion for playing cricket again here. I’ve had four great years at Sophia Gardens and I’m very proud of what I’ve been able to achieve, both personally and with my teammates.

“I’ve loved being able to share big moments with the senior guys as we made big steps together. Over my time I’ve also seen new talent breaking through and can see what the future looks like for the Club. Richard Dawson is an excellent long-term appointment who’s been fantastic this year, too.

“I’m really going to miss coming in here every day as the camaraderie in this group has been exceptional. While it’ll be sad to leave some great people behind, I’d like to sit in the changing room at the end with the guys and hopefully celebrate with a few beers. After that I can probably think about the future and moving back home to Kent.

“To the fans I’d like to say thanks to everyone who made my time here so special. I didn’t realise how special a Club it was until I came here. Spending time in the city, I’ve always had a warm welcome. It’s going to be sad when I reach my last day in Cardiff, but we’ve still got a little time before then to hopefully finish on a high.”

Mark Wallace, Glamorgan’s Director of Cricket, added: “Sam has made a huge impact on the Club during his time here and has left a lasting impression on both the history and future of the Club.

“There is still an important month’s cricket ahead of us in the County Championship and we look forward to Sam leading us through that period before we say our goodbyes.

“We will be sorry to see Sam go, but he will leave at the end of the season with nothing but our best wishes for the future.”

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